


Payment in Kind

by viklikesfic (v_angelique)



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-18
Updated: 2006-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-05 21:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_angelique/pseuds/viklikesfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I needed to find a way to thank the lovely Pi for all her cute little Monaboyd squee-worthy pieces, but I was stuck for a plot idea, so thanks to <a href="http://of-heliodora.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://of-heliodora.livejournal.com/"><b>of_heliodora</b></a> for the notes-in-books suggestion.  I quite like it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Payment in Kind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [apple_pi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple_pi/gifts).



After a few weeks in New Zealand, it became evident that Billy Boyd was The Man To Go To if you needed a book. Billy read a lot—sure, other members of the cast read books, but Billy's books were interesting, Billy's books were unexpected. Orlando read Steven Hawking because he was insecure about how others perceived his intelligence; Ian read and reread great works of literature and a few bawdier paperbacks; Viggo read philosophy because he was Viggo. But Billy read everything, and Dom found himself becoming quickly fascinated with the way in which Billy chose a book.

Dom couldn't be arsed to get a Wellington City Library card, so he mooched off of Billy. At first it was just the occasional book, but mid-way through the filming process it became a matter of course. Billy would finish a book, and the next morning in the makeup trailer, Dom would find it on his chair, ready to go. It began rather innocuously, because they were library books and therefore sacred material—all Dom did was read the book, file Billy's apparent logic for choosing it away in his brain, and then move on.

After a while, though, Billy started getting other books. He would buy a book, or have one sent from Scotland by a friend. And Dom would read those, too. And one by one, they would come back to Billy, notes scrawled haphazardly in the margins.

In the first book of Phillip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ series, for example:

_"Master," said Lord Asriel. "Yes, I'm back. Do bring in your guests; I've got something very interesting to show you._

**Kinky bugger, isn't he? Got something to show him all right…**

And in _On the Road_:

_Guitars tinkled. Terry and I gazed at the stars and kissed._

**Oh, come on. Terry? Such a bloke's name.**

And so on. At the beginning, notes of this theme were interspersed with other, more serious reflections and observations, but as the shoot went on, and Dom read more and more, Billy found that he was getting his books back absolutely drowning in marginal notes on homosexual subtexts. Normally, he would worry about the self-perception of the individual in question, perhaps suggest therapy, but this was Dom, and Billy quite liked Dom. He was just a bit dense sometimes.

"So Dominic," Billy began, his burr rough with the edge of a bit of whisky as he approached Dom at one of the last parties of the year, the recently-returned copy of _Romeo and Juliet_ in hand (just a test case, really, but when Dom made notes on the possibilities of Tybalt and Mercutio he found his point well proven). "I'm afraid I'm going to have to start charging a price on the books, lad."

"A price?" Dom asked, but it was more of a squeak, because he had quickly found himself pressed up against a wall in one of the back corridors of Elijah's home, pinned not by Billy's body, per se, but by the weight of his gaze.

"Yes, you see, you've been returning my books to me rather… damaged."

"I would say improved," Dom interrupted, but he was quickly silenced with the pad of an index finger over his lips.

"The bottom line is, Dominic, if you're going to keep leaving bloody love letters in my books, I'm going to have to demand payment."

Dom's eyes bugged wider than Billy had seen them, and if he hadn't mentally rehearsed this moment beforehand, he would've laughed out loud.

"What kind of payment?" Dom asked finally, his voice a rough whisper as he realised he'd been caught.

"Oh, well I'm really quite a reasonable librarian, you see," Billy replied, the corners of his mouth lifting just slightly in spite of himself. "I charge a payment that fits the crime." There was a long pause, dawdling on the cusp, as it were, and then Billy leaned closer and stepped in, one thigh pressing between Dom's so quickly and accurately that Dom had no chance to hide the slight stirring in his trousers that Billy's proximity was causing.

Billy's breath was a warm tickle on his lips, and when he licked them instinctively, the tip of his tongue just barely brushed Billy's own. He gasped, and Billy smiled. "My charge per book, Dominic, is a kiss," Billy explained, before pressing his mouth gently, gently against Dom's, one palm flat on the wall next to Dom's head and the other slipping to his lower back, protecting it from the crown moulding chair rail. His hand was warm on Dom's skin, rucking the back of his dress shirt up to access it, and the kiss was imploring, his tongue seeking out all the warm, moist spots that made Dom keen and arch up against him. When he finally pulled away, his teeth teasingly tugging on Dom's bottom lip, it was far too soon.

"Just… a kiss?" Dom finally clarified, breathlessly, and Billy's laughter was rich and warm.

"Oh, no worries, lad. You'll accrue interest."


End file.
